All the ways it happens
by withered
Summary: It's a realization that comes as he's standing in the grocery store. It doesn't hit him until they get home. Rukia, as usual, doesn't begrudge him his ineptitude.


A tumblr request by Anon

There's a first part which is only available on tumblr at the moment, which you can find at everything-withered, if you search the ichiruki tag on my blog entitled "I love you" platonically.

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All the ways it happens

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They're standing in the aisle of the grocery store, arguing over the necessity of Chappy cereal because Rukia does not understand the concept of a budget, and Byakuya's equivalent of a gold card in the Living World does not help matters. Seriously, trying to teach her finances is a nightmare, and Ichigo can't believe they have this argument every single time they need groceries.

"You got to take the Hollow on your own."

"And, I could've gone with you."

"You just got back from that crappy exam, plus, I was _right there." _

"You were careless, and I had to cry over your 'dead' body until you got back," she reminds him, managing to sound both triumphed and unimpressed at the same time.

"Fine," he sighs, "whatever. We'll get the cereal."

"Naturally," she declares like this whole song and dance has been a waste of time because they know by now that she was going to get her way, and he vows, _next time, he's not caving. _

Even though he probably will.

That's Future-Ichigo's problem.

"What're you in the mood to eat later?" she asks, contemplating her phone - the screen tilted so he can see the notes app, and the list they'd come up with before leaving the apartment. It's mainly breakfast and dinner stuff, some toiletries. They usually get lunch on campus except on Thursdays, when neither of them have classes, and Rukia isn't working at the corner coffee shop.

"Italian?"

"You always pick Italian," she complains, but she's already switched apps to the restaurant website and perusing the menu, reading him options and throwing in commentary as they work their way through the store.

"Fine, burgers," he decides, digging through the freezer for the ice-cream he wants, snagging the tiny carton of the _good stuff _Rukia prefers. (Seriously, what's the point of their budget?)

Pushing the cart, she protests, "But I already picked what I want to eat!"

"But now I want pizza."

Her eyebrow ticks. "There's pizza at the Italian place."

"Not the one I like," he childishly retorts.

Which starts up a whole argument that ends with Ichigo smirking and Rukia glaring and accusing him over the groceries they're transferring onto the conveyer belt, "You're just being annoying on purpose."

He doesn't deny it, and though she sighs exasperatedly, it's followed by a fond eye-roll and a nudge to move out the way so she can pay the total. (That's why they don't need a budget.)

"You guys are cute," the cashier chirps, "I always see you come around. How long have you guys been together?"

"Since he was fifteen," Rukia answers easily, and the cashier wiggles her brow at Ichigo.

"An older woman huh, _niiice_."

"You have no idea," Ichigo tells her, and only later, when they're home, packing groceries away, and getting changed because Rukia has a shift and Ichigo has a class to go to after they have lunch, does Ichigo realize how that sounds - and - and it doesn't bother him.

That people think they're dating. That everyone automatically assumes he's Rukia's and Rukia is his. That they go home together. That they fight over groceries and dumb chores and what to watch on television.

It doesn't bother him that the person he trusts most in the world is by his side, that she's always in his corner, that she trusts him with her life - in the living of it and the fighting of it.

It doesn't bother him.

Not even a little bit.

He can't imagine a life without her, hasn't been able to since she'd come into it. And while he's never really thought about a "normal" life since then, with shinigami and hollows, but somehow they have one together - a life that encompasses it all: Hollow hunting, and classes, and lunch at Italian restaurants, and grocery shopping, a life Ichigo didn't think he'd even want until she'd convinced him of it.

And he doesn't have to pull every string to see his family, doesn't have to wonder if he'd be anything more than a fighter or a warrior.

Rukia had given him that, and in return, he'd given her this: their apartment, their home, their life, and Ichigo - Ichigo doesn't want that with anyone else.

And she - she loves him.

That he knows.

She told him a couple of months ago because she's always been faster about this kind of stuff - always realizing things before he even realized - and she'd told him with no expectation to hear it back, and hadn't been disappointed that he didn't. Not because he didn't, he just…

He was better at showing it - at taking care of her, of watching her back, of doing anything he could to make her happy.

He didn't say it back then because it wasn't enough, and he wondered why he thought so for so long until today.

Until.

Oh god, he didn't say it because he didn't mean it in the same way.

"Ichigo? Hey, are you okay?" She's looking up at him, a furrow between her brows, hands around his to get his attention - to ground him - in case he's having a panic attack, in case he isn't okay and -

Ichigo blurts, "I love you."

Rukia blinks. "Yes. I know."

"No. I mean. _I love you."_

She blinks again, lets it process, and it's already happening so it's too late to panic that she doesn't feel the same but that doesn't stop Ichigo from freaking out anyway when understanding dawns in her expression.

Fortunately, all that happens is that her eyes soften, and her hands tighten around his in a squeeze, and then she's repeating, fond and amused like she's known the whole time, _"I know." _

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**A/n: **I'm late for IR month, but this also fulfills the entry for Day 12 - Slice of Life.

Head on over to my tumblr at everything-withered for more content ~


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